Canon MP830 Not Printing Text

[stratman]

cartridge cleansing/conditioning solution:

3 % propylene glycol (or 2 % glycerine)
20 % isopropyl alcohol
distilled water up to 100 %

Thank you for the formula!

 

[stratman]

Jflan:

The USB001 error message appeared on my monitor and was part of a Canon error window. I did not look at the printer's LCD screen to see what it showed.

I did the "sfc /scannow". Good suggestion though I detest having to click "retry" a couple hundred times whenever I perform that function. That is why I'd rather do a "repair" and then update windows thereafter. time will tell if everything's OK. (knock on wood)

Thanks for the help jflan, and to everyone else too.

 

[Tin Ho]

Stratman, I believe your print head nozzles for PGI5 are clogged. The cause is likely by the PGI5 cartridge that had dried up pigment ink in its sponge. The OEM ink in the sponge might have not been totally dried up but when it was mixed with the fresh ink the resulting viscosity was too high. Initially the sponge was full of ink so it would work for a while. Eventually the ink flow will be reduced due to high viscosity which then caused the nozzles to clog.

I had experienced the same probelm exactly like you did. I bought some used empty PGI5 and CLI8 OEM cartridges from ebay. I did not purge the PGI5 cart and it caused my nozzles of the PGI5 print head to clog. After unclogging the print head I purged the PGI5 cartridge, refilled it again and it worked fine afterwards. It has since worked fine with many refills. The advices from this forum from time to time that BCI3ebk and PBI5 need to be purged frequently are really justified.

I now purge my PGI5 cartridge on a regular basis. It works better on my printer. BTW, the clogged PGI5 nozzles can be unclogged easily. Just use dye black ink to print the clogs away. This was discussed before and it worked for me.

Don't know why you got the USB error message. It seems to be a unrelated issue.

 

[stratman]

Tin Ho:

Thanks for the advice. I read your post in another thread on this topic and had a question for you there.

I had read about purging PGI-5 cartridges before refilling, but I tempted fate and refilled, thinking that purging was more critical for cartridges bought from unknow sources. Since I immediately capped my empties, I thought they would be OK (not dried out). I sure was wrong about that it seems! I'll be purging regularly like you from now on.

I am intrigued by your idea of using Black DYE ink in a PGI-5 cartridge to unclog the printhead. It's less expensive and it's decreased viscosity and potential detergent effect would promote cleaning. Even rock yields to water eventually!

The USB001 error message occured when performing a Printhead Alignment with the presumed clogged printhead and cartridge. It was a Canon error window, not a MS Windows error window, so I don't think it was unrelated. Pretty interesting that Canon built that function into their hardware/software but don't document it in either the User Manual or Service Manual, at least the one's I have.

 

[Tin Ho]

Yes, see my reply to your questions on the other thread. The USB error message is a strange one. Try it again when the clog is cleared. I don't know how the printer has any idea about the clog though.

 

[stratman]

Some Pictures

Note - All CLI-8 colors are printing as expected, even if these images may appear to show defects.

1)
Nozzle Check #1 after 2 regular cleanings- Note only slight dash/dots printed in upper left hand corner where the PGBK should be printed.


2)
1st Printhead Alignment after 2 regular cleanings - USB001 Error message displayed - "The print head nozzles may be clogged."


3)
Nozzle Check #2 after first deep cleaning. Note that PGBK finally is printed out but is not good.


4)
Printhead Alignment #2 after first deep cleaning. No Error Message occurred.


5)
Nozzle Check # 3 after a third regular cleaning. Continuing to improve.


6)
Nozzle Check # 4 after deep cleaning #2.


7)
Nozzle Check #5 from the next morning. Printer powered off over night. Continued slight inprovement seen in vertical black bars alongside PGBK. THe lattice-like blocks look good.


8)
Printhead Alignment #4 two days after all cleanings. Some more improvement but still with banding and some stripes of missing ink.


9)
Print Test Page printed shortly after #8 above. Note stipes or banding in the text, particularly noticable in large font text.


Suggestions/comments?

 

[panos]

Replace your PGBK cartridge with an original.

 

[jru]

Stratman,
Have you tried dripping either distilled water or windex on the printhead screen and park pads, followed by a clean of the pgi5? I put 2 drops of distilled water on the screen, then replaced the cart. Then I put about 4-5 drops on each park pad (just enough so it doesn't overflow and spill out. Then do the clean/nozzle check. This kept improving the nozzle check but what really did it was dropping the water drops and then leaving it sit overnight (without the clean or nozzle check so that the water can soak in with gravity). This worked on my clog.

Are your cli8 colors appearing in the nozzle check print?

ghwellsjr, who posted this technique, says he has been able to clear out any clogs he has encountered.

Wishing you the best that yours clears up soon!

 

[jru]

P.S. I did this drip water/clean/nozzle check cycle many times... 10 - 20 I'd guess. He said to have patience with it but keep at it.

 

[stratman]

Replace your PGBK cartridge with an original.

The images are from printing done after swapping in a new OEM Canon cartridge IIRC.